Spring suspension for road-vehicles.



Patented Mar. 26, 1912. I

3 SHEBTSSHEET 1.

1:. HARRIS.

SPRING SUSPENSION FOR ROAD VEHICLES.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 17, 1911 1,021,251. Patented Mar. 26, 1912 3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

JnvenZor.

L. HARRIS. SPRIIQTG SUSPENSION FOR ROAD VEHICLES. APPLIOATION FILED-HIKE 17, 1911' 1,021,251. Patented Mar.26,1912. I

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

LEONARD HARRIS, or LONDON, ENGLAND.

SPRING SUSPENSION FOR ROAD-VEHICLES.

fipeoiflcation of Letters Patent. Patented, Mar. 26, 1912.

Application 111m June 17, 1911. Serial No. 634,152.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, LEONARD HARRIS, a

subject of the King of Great Britain, re siding in London, England, have invented certain new and' useful Improvements in Spring Suspension for Road-Vehicles, and of which the following is a spec'fication.

This inventionrelatcs to improvements in ,that known type of elastic suspension for road vehicles in which a resilient buffer or cushion is interposed between an PPer abutment carried by the chassis frame of the was only permitted motionin a vertical line- -might have an inverted cup-shaped form),-

vehicle and a lower abutment to which'the spring of the vehicle is connected. In such forms of.elastic suspension devices it' has .been common to mount' the lower abutment upon a member or members rig dly gu ded in a vertical dlrectlon upon the .structure ofthe upper abutment, so that the lower abutment (which might be. of cup-shaped. form)- coaxial with the upper abutment ,(which andathen the vehicle spring has been pivotally connected to the guide ,memberlor membersproceeding from the lower abutment; and in fact throughout various'known .constructions of such devices, some portion of the lowerabutment has always been in direct metallic contact in its sliding motions with the upper abutment.

The present invention consists in an im-" proved construction of such elastic suspension devices of the typestated and as hereinafter described and claimed, in which two cup-like members (hereinafter-termed cups) holding between them a pneumatic bu ifer or cushion, are not in immediate and .direct metallic connection, the construction being such that the lower cup has a certain freedom of-motion, or, in other words,

swings freely to a sufficient extent for selfadjustment about a pivotal axis at the upper extremity of its supporting member (hereinafter termed a stirrup) which axis is at some distance from the lower cup, while thepivot itself may be directly connected to thespring of the vehicle, and is confined to vertical movements.

It is very necessary that the. point of conmotion of the vehicle spring with the cushioning device, should be limited to a vertical motion and not permitted any deviation therefrom, but while providin that the said pivotal connection shall 9 3-; have such vertical motion, I arrange that the lower cup shall not be in direct metallic connection withthe upper'cup and also that the said lower cup shall have some amount of self-adjustment as regards its position relatively to the upper cup; and I have found that such an arrangement lessens the communication of vibrationsbetween the 11 'per and lower cups, andthat' such slight reedom of movement betweemthe two cups increases the life of the outer casing of the pneumatic 'bufier' located between them,

which latter may conveniently be con;

structed 'in accordance with my United States Patent No.- 783,833 dated February 28,- 1905. According thereforeto thepresent invention a member extends from the frame of the vehicle, and carries rigidly attached theretoor formed therewith an in verted cup; beneath and at-a distance from said inverted cup is an opposed cup, an airinfiat bu'fi'cr being interposed between the two cu' s} and the lower cup is fixed within the loop of a stirrup, the upward arms of which extend around and above-the upper cup, but are not in contact therewith at any time. At the upper part'of the stirrup, a horizontal pivot is guided 'vcrtically'by the member extending from the frame .of the vehicle which carries the upper cup, and one end of the vehicle spring is pivotally connected to said pivot, 01 to a" part movable therewith. Thus While the pivotal connection of the vehicle spring with theelastic suspensionis limited to a verticalmotion and not permitted any deviation therefrom, yet the lower cup forming the base of the pneumatic suspensionis not in direct metallic contact with, nor is it guided directly upon the upper cup, and thereby the transof construction, Fig. 3-being a sectional elevation, aiid Fig. 4: a sectional endyiewbf theparts shown in Fig.- 3 Fig. 515a side elevation'aud Fig.- 6 a sectional end elcvation of a further modification of construct-ion.

In the construction shown in Figs. 1 and 2, a bracket arm or frame member 1, which may form part of the chassis of the vehicle, is provided, one end of which bracket extends downward and at its lower end is provided with or supports a cup-like member 2, the concavity of which is inverted. Be-

yond this, the bracket arm 1 near the point where it bends downward is formed with a bearing 3 for a plunger 4, the axis of whiclr is substantially perpendicular to the horizontal plane of the chassis, the plunger t being free to have motion in the said hearing 3, and means may be provided for lubrieating the bearing of the plunger 4. To

'the lower end of the plunger 4 the upper ends of a pendant stirrup 5 are connected by a pivot bolt or the like 6 forming a horizontal pivotal axis, and conveniently transverse with reference to the adjoining vehicle spring 9, the lower portion of the stirrup 5 carrying the lower cuplike structure 7, the

.concavity of which faces the concavity of spring, an ordinary plate spring for instance, is connected to the pivot bolt such as 6 of the upper end of the pendant stirrup, so that shocks transmitted by the spring 9 to the stirrup 5 will produce a compression of the resilient body 8, with a corresponding upward movement of the stirrup 5 and plunger 1, and thereby insulate the body of the vehicle from vibrations which are not absorbed by the ordinary plate springs.

At Figs. 3 and 4 another form of construction is illustrated, in which the bracket arm or member 1 is bifurcated at its downwardly extending end, and the walls of the bifurcations are formed with slots or guideways 3, while the lower end of the member 1 has rigidly fixed to it the inverted cuplike member 2, with which thcupper per tion of the resilient body 8 engages. The stirrup 5 carries the lower cup-like structure 7, with which the lower portion of the resilient body 8 engages, and the upper por- .tion of the stirrup has a hook formation 10,

through which passes the'pivot pin or bolt 6, the projecting ends of which pin 6 are.

guided by passing through the slots 3 of the member 1; or as preferred, the pivot pin 6 is fitted with flanged rollers 11 (Fig. 4), which form an antifriction hearing within the slots 3 of the member 1." The end of the vehicle spring 9' also engages the pin 6 in any convenient manner;or in the construction illustrated, the pin 6 passes through the eye in the end of the spring, and the hook formation of the stirrup 5 passes on to the said eye of the spring, the construction of this device generally being clearly illus, trated in the drawings at Figs. 3 and =1.

Referring to the construction shown at Figs. 5 and 6, the inverted cup-like member 2is fixed to, or forms part of, a bracket 1 secured to the chassis or frame 13 of the vehicle,-while the lower cup 7 is carried in the loop of the stirrup 5. ,Tlie upper ends of the stirrup are connected by pivot-forms ing studs or trunnions 6 to a connect-ion head 18, the axis in this case of the studs or trunnions 6 extending in a plane parallel with the length of the vehicle. The connection head 18 is formed with a fork atits upper end, between the arms of which the eye of the vehicle spring 9 passes, and a pin extends through the fork of the head 18 and through the eye of the said spring, this pin extending at rightangles'to the axis of the studs 6. The upper cup-like member 2 is formed in this case (see Fig. 5) with a vertical plunger 4: extending from its upper face, and passing into a socket formed in the connection head 18, whereby the latter head is guided in its vertical motions.

Wlha t I claim as my invent-ion and desire to secure bypatent is 1. In spring suspension for road vehicles; the combination of a frame member, an inverted cu'p rigidly connected therewith, a lower opposed cup, a pneumatic cushion of approximately spherical form located betweensaid cups, a stirrup fixed to said lower cup and having upwardly extending'arms passing around and above the upper cup but not in contact therewith, a veh1c1e spring, and mcans'for connecting the end of said vehicle spring to said lower cup including a pivot at the upper extremity of said stirrup forming a horizontal axis about which said lower cup is free to swing independently of the motion of the upper cup and vehicle spring'to render said lower cup selfarljusting, said frame member being provided with means for vertically guiding said pivot.-

2. In spring suspension for road vehicles; the combination of a frame member, an inverted cup rigidly connected therewith, a lower opposed cup, a pneumatic cushion of approximately spherical form' located between said cups, :1 stirrup fixed to said lower cup and having upwardly extending arms passing around and above the upper cup but not in contact therewith, a vehicle spring, and means for connecting the end of said vehicle spring to said lower cup includinga pivot pin transverse with reference to said vehicle spring at the upper extremity of said stirrup, forming a horizontal axis about which said lower cup is free to swing independently of the motion of'the' upper cup and vehicle spring to render said lower cup self-adjusting; said frame member being provided with means for guiding said pivot pin in a vertical direction, and said pivot pin extending through the upper ends of said stirrup and through the customary eye of said vehicle spring.

3. In spring suspension for road vehicles; the-eombination of a frame member, an inverted cup rigidly connected therewith, a lower opposed cup, a pneumatic cushion of approximately spherical form located between said cups, a stirrup fixedto said lower cup and having upwardly extending arms passing around and above the upper cup but not in contact therewith, a vertically movable plunger, a pivot pin passing through the extremities of the upwardly extending arms of said stirrup and through the lower end of said plunger, said frame member having a vertical guideway for said plunger, and a vehicle spring having an eye at its end through which said pivot pin passes, whereby said pivot pin is restricted to vertical motions while said stirrup is free to swing about said pivot pin to accommodate itself to the pneumatic cushion, and the efliciency of the latter is more fully utilized.

The foregoing specification of my improvements in spring suspension for road vehicles signed by me this first day of June- LEONARD HARRIS.- Witnesses H. C. COXE, R THIRIOT. 

